Thread by @someshjha7

.@ari_maj and I travelled to riot-affected areas in north-east Delhi last week and wrote a long-form piece on what we saw.

A thread on our observations.

Link: business-standard.com/article/curren…

Ever since the violence, 1000s of Muslims have fled Shiv Vihar & taken refuge in relief camps or a relative's place in Muslim-dominated areas. 

Seen below: Dilshad who grew up in the alleys of Shiv Vihar, where he moved in when he was 6. "Ab man bhar gaya hain yaha se," he says.

Shiv Vihar has mixed inhabitants belonging to both Hindu & Muslim communities. Residents say that they have lived together peacefully for as long as they can remember. Though most say rioters were outsiders but the way properties were targeted raise suspicion among the residents.

Most who have moved to shelter homes are poor. Five years ago, Ahmed, who lives in the Eidgah camp, had borrowed money to purchase an autorickshaw, the source of his livelihood. With his daily earning of Rs 800 to Rs 1000, he supported his family comprising his wife and a son.

Conversations with victims reflect the paranoia and fear that has engulfed them. "My heart is still pounding. I will not go back and instead stay in Mustafabad,” Ahmed says. He kept checking with us whether we were journalists or belonged to a group that will cause him harm.

Two days after the violence of February 25, when Ahmed went to Shiv Vihar, he found his one-room flat which also had an autorickshaw parked outside charred beyond recognition. He lost his livelihood even as he found his neighbour's place unscathed.

Ahmed's neighbour Amit, who didn't mention about the former, blamed the CAA protests, particularly the road blockades, for the violence. He says the protests should have happened outside the residence of politicians, rather than causing inconvenience to citizens.

In Brijpuri, a school, few houses and shops were vandalised by a mob which allegedly came from a Muslim-dominated area of Mustafabad. One such belonged to Virender Chaudhary who moved back to his village in Meerut after his three-storey building was set on fire.

But some lost more than just a roof over their head. The most heartbreaking story was that of Kamaluddin whose brother was beaten to death and another one is seriously injured in a hospital. A mob caught them on Feb 27 when they had come to Shiv Vihar to check on their house.

After his brother's cremation, driven by grief & anger, Kamaluddin decided to visit the house. He broke down and sobbed uncontrollably to see what his brothers couldn't.

His room vandalised, lockers broken, jewellery box emptied & lakhs in cash stolen. Lifelong savings gone.

It is now a matter of time before, Kamaluddin says, he may move out of the locality. His brother Jamaluddin succumbed to injuries on the  evening of March 3. Till Thursday, when he first saw his vandalised house, Kamaluddin hadn't filled up the compensation form.

A Srivathsan, academic director at the CEPT University, Ahmedabad, who has done extensive research on housing policies, says that besides religious animosity, it’s the fight over resources in low-income colonies that make them so prone to riots.

North-east Delhi is the most densely populated district, with 36,155 people per sq km, compared with the state avg. of 11,320 & the national avg. of 382. Poverty is rampant with the area having among the highest ration-card holders, and the most no. of fair price shops in Delhi.

To sum up, the damage done to Shiv Vihar & other riot-affected areas where Hindus and Muslims have been living together since decades is irreparable. The level of distrust, alienation & displacement will haunt the narrow lanes forever. It's a wound that will take long to heal.

More observations in a separate thread.

- Thread ends -